Community notebook: Ridgefield youth claims title at taekwondo Junior Olympics

Jacob Burggraff of Ridgefield captured his fourth national taekwondo championship on Friday, completing a sweep of the world class heavyweight division for black belt boys ages 12-13 at the USA Taekwondo Junior Olympics in San Jose, Calif.

The 13-year-old beat his five opponents by a combined score of 54-7 in the sparring competition. His path included a win over Vancouver Taekwondo Academy teammate Benjamin Couch in the quarterfinal round.

An eighth-grader to be, Burggraff has qualified for a USA Taekwondo training camp later this year, according to his coach Scott Browning.

At 155 pounds, Burggraff is larger than about 80-percent of the heavyweights in the 12-13 age division, Browning said. The back belt heavyweight division for his age starts at 110 pounds.

Burggraff started in taekwondo at the age of 5. He won a silver medal as a first-year black belt in 2009. This is his first black belt national title.

Before losing to Burggraff in the quarterfinals, Couch defeated his first two opponents by a combined score of 27-2.

Three other VTA competitors at the Junior Olympics nationals lost in preliminary rounds. They were Emily Hernandez in the girls heavyweight black belt division, Lane Bentley in the boys 14-17 flyweight world class black belt division, and Trevor Haverkamp in the boys 16-17 welterweight red belt division.

VUSA girls win soccer regional

With three wins and a draw, a Vancouver United Timbers Red girls soccer team won a regional tournament on June 26 to qualify for the U.S. Club Soccer National Cup X tournament.

Winning the under-17 Premier Group title means the team will play in July 29-Aug. 1 in the national event in Boise. The Timbers Red were one of two girls under-17 teams, and among 27 total teams, to qualify for nationals at the regional event at Seattle.

On goals from Marissa Mackinnon and Bri Brown, the Timbers beat Legacy FC of North Sound Soccer Club 2-0 in the championship match. The same teams had played to a 1-1 draw in pool play. The Timbers also beat an Eastside team 3-0 and a Crossfire Premier team 2-1.

“It is nice to see them be rewarded for all the hard work they’ve put in,” Timbers head coach Robby Trimbo said.

VUSA coaching director Sunny Dulai noted that this is the second time in recent years his club has qualified a team for the U.S. Club Soccer national tournament. He noted that many members of this team played on a Timbers team within her age group for seven seasons.

U.S. Club Soccer is different from U.S. Youth Soccer, which stages regional and national tournaments for teams that win top-level state championships. For U.S. Club Soccer, teams apply for entry into tournaments.

Players for the Timbers Red U-17 girls are Maddi Barton, Amanda Bristow, Bri Brown, Kaylee Cropper, Marla Drimmel, Haley Grossman, Kassidy Hall, Marci Haynes, Bri Hill, Megan Hoo, Marissa Mackinnon, Laura Morgan, Sam Samwel, Sam Schoene, Mackenzie Zink, Kristen Berry, Karlee Josephson, Chan Paradis, Jenna Prewitt, and Kindra Scobba.

Women rule Ridgefield races

The top three finishers in Monday’s 5-kilometer Ridgefield Fourth of July Run were females from Vancouver.

Katarina Mueller, 19, won the 3.1-mile race with a time of 19 minutes and 16 seconds. Alyssa Tower, 48, was second in 19:38, and 13-year-old Cassie McKinney was third in 20:51.

Roger Stevens won the 10-kilometer race with a time of 35:57.

A record 239 runners finished the two Ridgefield runs. For complete results from these runs and Wednesday’s Clark County Running Club event, see the Community Sports Scoreboard. The CCRC Wednesday series is at WSU Vancouver this week, with the race starting at 7:30 p.m.

Cyclist wins twice at junior nationals

Colby Wait-Molyneux of Vancouver placed fourth in the individual time trial for men ages 17-18 last weekend at the USA Cycling Junior National Championships in Augusta, Ga. Riding with Hammer Nutrition/CMG Racing Team, he covered the 30-kilometer course in 38 minutes and 28 seconds.

A regular at Vancouver Bicycle Club’s Thursday night time trial series, Wait-Molyneux also finished seventh in the men’s ages 17-18 96-kilometer road race.

Little League softball champions crowned

The all-star teams from Cascade and Battle Ground have qualified to play in the Washington State Little League Softball State Tournament.

Cascade won the four-team District 4 Tournament at Columbia Little League. Battle Ground won all three of its games to claim the District 6 softball title in the division for girls 11-12.

Battle Ground and Cascade each begin play at 1 p.m. on Sunday, July 10 at the state tournament in Woodinville.

The 11-12 age is Little League’s most prominent division, where district-wide all-star tournaments are the first step toward the popular Little League World Series and Little League Softball World Series. In District 4 the baseball majors district tournament runs today through July 18 at LaCamas Little League. In District 6, which serves northern Clark County, the baseball majors tournament runs until July 15 at H.B. Fuller Park.

The champions of those Little League baseball district tournaments advance to the Little League Baseball Washington State Tournament July 23-31 at Fort Vancouver Little League.

District tournament brackets are available through the district websites: http://www.wad4llb.org, or http://www.district6wa.org.

Disc golf tourney in Vancouver

An amateur disc golf tournament will be played on July 9-10 at Leverich Park in Vancouver. The tournament features three rounds of disc golf with a final nine-hole championship round on Sunday afternoon for the top four players. To register, visit http://www.BadMonkeyOpen.com.

COMMUNITY SPORTS NOTEBOOK items can be submitted by sending email to paul.danzer@columbian.com, or by calling 360-735-4521.